heraldsun.com.au Herald Sun, Tuesday, September 4, 2007 83+

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FOOTY 2007

SPEAK UPShould the Kangaroos beallowed to play the GoodFriday game if it goes ahead?To enter, SMS the word SPORT, theneither YES or NO and your response of25 words or less to 1994 4111 (pleaseinclude name and suburb). Or emailhssport@heraldsun.com.au (SMS costs55c, including GST).

YESTERDAY’S QUESTION

Q After yesterday’s poorperformance, are the Hawksgenuine finals contenders?

YES 46%They can, but unless they can turninto a more physically accountableunit, it’s unlikely. Stern test for sucha young group.

Shaun, Sunbury

They are if Alastair Clarkson pumpedup his own side as much as he doesthe other sides. They would be a bigchance.

Mal, Geelong

They will bounce back and be betterfor it. Watch out, Crows.

Bullbar, Bayswater

NO 54%Too young, inexperienced andfatigued. The wheels are off atHawthorn. Go Tigers.

Trav, Wantirna

They have shown they are boysamongst men. Another year or twowill make all the difference. They willbe great.

Mozza, Ringwood East

Will’s a StarR I C H M O N D d e f e n d e r W i l lThursfield has won the Rising Starnomination for Round 22.

Tall and athletic, Thursfield hasplayed 22 matches since his debut inRound 14, 2005.

He was restricted to just one gamein 2006 when a serious knee injury inRound 2 ended his season.

The 21-year-old returned inRound 8 this year and played theremaining 15 games, matching up onthe opposition’s best forwards.

Thursfield was the first playerselected in the 2005 AFL rookie draft.

AAP

THE ROAD TO GLORY

1st SEMI FINAL

2nd SEMI FINAL

W

W

W

WW

W

L

L

1st PRELIMINARY FINAL

2nd PRELIMINARY FINAL

FIRST ELIMINATION FINALHawthorn v

AdelaideSaturday, 2.30pm, Telstra Dome

SECOND ELIMINATION FINALCollingwood v

SydneySaturday, 7.30pm, MCG

FIRST QUALIFYING FINALGeelong vKangaroos

Sunday, 2.45pm, MCG

SECOND QUALIFYING FINALPort Adelaide v

West CoastFriday, 8.20pm, AAMI Stadium

Young Hawk inline for recall

Daryl Timms andGareth Trickey

Fitness test: Chance Bateman

HAWTHORN selectors couldturn to youngster Travis Tuckfor Saturday’s elimination finalagainst Adelaide at TelstraDome.

A hamstring injury to ChanceBateman and Michael Osborne’spotential suspension have added tothe Hawks’ selection woes. XavierEllis and Tuck, who has played justone game, are in line to be recalled.

A scan of Bateman’s hamstringrevealed a low-grade injury.

The Hawks hope Bateman will beavailable, but the six-day break doesnot help.

Defender Trent Croad, whosuffered concussion against Sydneyat the SCG on Sunday, will have testslater this week. But the Hawks alsohope he will play.

The Hawks were expected topromote Osborne to the senior sidefor the team’s first final. But he hasfallen foul of the umpires in a VFLgame for the second time in a month.

Osborne was reported in the BoxHill Hawks’ reserve side eliminationfinal against Williamstown onSunday.

He has been charged on videoevidence with ‘‘bumping or makingforceful contact to an opponent fromfront on while that player has hishead over the ball’’.

Osborne was booked three minutesinto the final term for making contactto Williamstown’s Daniel Nicholls,who left the field but later returned toplay out the game.

It follows Osborne’s report in BoxHill’s Round 19 game againstFrankston when he accepted anautomatic one-game ban for strikingFrankston’s Justin Berry.HAWTHORN defender CampbellBrown says the Hawks lacked inten-

sity in their 12-goal loss to Sydney onSunday.

The tough defender predicted theCrows would be just as physical asthe Swans when the Hawks meetthem in the elimination final.

‘‘We’ll get together this week andwork out why we didn’t go so wellagainst Sydney because we’re goingto get a pretty similar game againstAdelaide,’’ Brown said yesterday.

‘‘Adelaide are an extremelydisciplined group as well. They’ve gotsome great players, (Andrew)McLeod’s in great form, MarkRicciuto is back kicking some goals.

‘‘We’ll just have to sit down, thematch committee and the players,and have a bit of a chat about how wecan go about beating them.’’

Brown said a breakdown in themidfield and ineffectiveness aroundthe stoppages also contributed to theHawk’s 72-point drubbing at thehands of the Swans.

‘‘We need 22 contributors out thereand we need to get the ball to theforwards like Lance Franklin andJarryd Roughead to give them achance,’’ Brown said.

‘‘Because on the weekend theymight not as well have been playingbecause we just didn’t get the ball inthere.’’

Money forhot CrowsAdam Hamilton

PUNTERS have already written offHawthorn this season.

Betting agencies around Australiareported a flood of money for theCrows when markets opened yester-day on the first elimination finalbetween the Hawks and Adelaide.

‘‘The Crows were $1.80 into $1.70with us in the blink of an eye,’’Sportingbet Australia’s StephenFletcher said.

Lasseters Sports’ Gerard Daffysaid $25,000 in bets had been takenon the Crows in the first 12 hours.

‘‘We opened at $1.77 late Sundaynight and took $15,000 in bets, thenanother $10,000 came in once weshortened the Crows to $1.70,’’ Daffysaid.

The Crows have shortened from$1.80 to $1.68 with TAB Sportsbet.

The big money for the Crows alsoextends to the premiership.

‘‘The first flag bet we had thismorning was $5 on the Crows at $16,’’TAB’s Gary Davies said.

Sportingbet also reported a $2000bet at $15.

‘‘The Crows have been the bigmovers for the flag. They’ve been $16into $14 with us,’’ Daffy said.

‘‘We did take a $6000 bet on theKangaroos at $18 and have trimmedthem into $16.’’

Leading Victorian bookmakerSimon Beasley dared to give Geelong$2.25 for the flag yesterday, butpunters swooped quickly and theodds were trimmed to $2.10.

The Cats remain $2 favourite fromPort Adelaide ($5) and West Coast($5.50).

ARGENTINA vAUSTRALIA MCG 7.30pm 11th SEPT 2007

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